Rain Dogs

 

In September 1985 Tom Waits released Rain Dogs, an album that marked a turning point in his music. He started his career as another folk singer who was inspired by the beat generation. It was a mixture mixture of Delta Blues, jazz and funk dominated by a voice seemed like be ruined by too many bars and cigarettes. The next years he turned more and more to rock music and great songs that were covered by many artists.

His musical style turned in 1984 when he released Swordfishtrombones, when he left classical instruments behind and replaced them with marimbas for example. It was a great album and got many critical acclaim but with Rain Dogs he made his masterpiece. 

'Rain Dogs is a term I coined for those poor devils who sleep in doorways without a home. Dogs in the rain lose their sense of direction because the water mercilessly washes away all their markings and scent trails. After heavy rain, you see these stranded creatures everywhere on the streets, turning their heads towards you, their pleading eyes begging you to show them the way home. It's hopeless. Just like them, all the people sung about on this album are connected to each other. Sewn together by a thread of pain and hardship.' Waits once said this lovingly and warmly about his milestone. These words run through all the songs on this album.

Anyone who listens to this record will find a colorful bundle of addictive melodies and lyrics that stand completely naked before the listener, without a safety net or double soundboard. Lyrically, he is as adventurous as Kerouac and as hopeless as Steinbeck. Musically, it sounds like a session between Howlin' Wolf and Kurt Weill. With so many good songs, the quality wasn't compromised by Keith Richards being allowed to play along and Marc Ribot having some of his finest moments.

In the early 1970's, Swedish photographer Anders Petterson hung out on Hamburg's Reeperbahn and photographed the guests of the legendary Cafe Lehmitz. This photograph perfectly captures the mood of the entire album.

Tom Waits - Singaphore

Tom Waits - Clap Hands

Tom Waits - Time

The Riverside Hotel

Some new music on Saturday by Eriksson Delcroix from their latest album The Riverside Hotel. I was introduced to this band by another recommendation on my weekly new music list on Spotify. It was La Danse De Mardi Gras that made want to investigate for more. I have to agree that I have a big sympathy for Zydeco music but I am far away to call myself a huge fan. The Riverside Hotel in Clarkesdale/Mississippi was famous when blues legends like Muddy Waters or Howlin Wolf stayed when they toured in the South. The music of this record is bound on blues schemes but without boundaries they crawl tho landscapes of African voodoo, native American rituals and French Louisiana settler's sounds as well. Listening to this songs you can imagine how good they will work during an American BBQ beside a campfire and the artists seemed to have a lot of fun playing these songs. The more I was astonished that this band is a collaboration of the Antwerp, Belgium.based couple Bjorn Eriksson and Nathalie Delcroix. It seems like they absorbed the best of country, folk and blues. And this is more than average for most new bands.